Monthly Archives: February 2018

“A picture is worth a thousand words”
This quote is so true…but even more so a picture is worth a thousand memories.

Forgotten memories… Pictures help to keep memories alive; they can transport you to a different time and place. Each picture holds a story…a story you may have forgotten about. One look at a picture can bring back those forgotten memories. You remember when the picture was taken, where it was, what happened during that day, who you were with and what the weather was like. It makes you relive that moment.
Thankfully a lot of pictures were taken in the past years. Robb posted the picture below a couple of days ago. And of course there’s a story to tell about this picture!

The photo was taken during a tour of The Netherlands a couple of years ago…very early in the morning… Seeing the picture immediately brings back the memories of that day. We had to get up very early in the morning to visit Ekxpresso, a Saturday morning radio show on KX Radio in Amsterdam at 7 am. With a gig the night before we only had a couple of hours of sleep.
Sleep-deprived we arrived at the radio station and we received a warm welcome from Jeroen van de Beek (presenter) and Walter Bakker (producer) with coffee and breakfast. As I already mentioned in a previous blog, silliness takes over when tiredness kicks in…and that’s exactly what happened during that radio show too.

After the show we went outside to take some pictures…it’s then when the picture above was taken. You may wonder what is happening there…what are they looking at?
Well…nothing really… Until today no one knows what they were looking at 😉
It’s just silliness taking over!

Music is the most popular art form in the world. It’s present in all cultures and brings people together. Music is everywhere. It’s by far is the most commonly experienced form of art, but it’s also an art form we all take for granted. Society seems to see music as a commodity, rather than a really important or vital aspect of our lives. Most people claim that they love music, music really is for everyone. We all identify with music and our musical tastes make us who we are and how the world sees us. If you ask someone if he/she likes music, you will (almost) always get a positive response, because there aren’t many people who don’t like music. But how many people truly listen to music and appreciate all that it has to offer?

I’ve always been a music lover but I never really thought about the production side of music and I sure wasn’t aware of how much time and work goes into the creation and production of a song. Little did I know when I started working on the music with Robb Murphy five and a half years ago…

That definitely has changed! I feel privileged to have seen and heard the development of many songs over the past years. It has made me appreciate music even more than I already did, because I learned to listen to music in a completely different way. I used to listen to music in a more passive way than I’m doing now. And when I was actively listening to music, I would listen with a focus on lyrics and the overall arrangement. A song would affect me or not.

I still listen to a lot of music and often it’s just passive listening, like we all do. For example listen to music while doing dishes, driving, doing laundry, and cleaning the house. But over the past five years that has changed and I adopted and learned active listening. Now I take much more time to truly listen to music without any distractions and by doing that I take so much more out of a song than I used to do and I appreciate music so much more.

Over to you. How do you listen to music? Do you take time to actively listen to music and how does it affect you? Feel free to leave a comment!

Since we’re on the subject, here’s your chance to actively listen to music! 😉
Robb posted this message on Facebook a couple of days ago and your input would be much appreciated.

Here’s what Robb says himself:Next Time – A song we have been touring with for a few years and have already various live radio and TV performances recorded. This year a new studio mix will be released, I love the technical side of recording and production and so far I have recored and mixed the majority of our releases. I have recently been working with Lennart Gretenkord, a great guy and producer from Germany who most recently mastered our Christmas single, ‘North Star’. (www.lennartg.com & facebook.com/lennartgaudio). We thought it would be great to have a sort of ‘mix off’ using Next Time. All the instruments were recorded at my studio and then Lennart and I both made our separate mixes.

So now it is over to you ! We would love to hear the feedback on which mix you prefer, of course they are both equally awesome (lol), but we would love some feedback and interaction from you. Have a listen on your phone, laptop, speakers, car and any other source and see which you think you prefer in terms of sound, vibe, energy, warm etc. or just which most you gravitate to, no need to get too technical.

All feedback, comments, are very welcome and please feel free to share to anyone who may be interested !

Thanks, Robb

Listen to the song below and please let us know which mix you prefer! It will only take 6 minutes of your time… We would love to hear your input/feedback!

What’s going on in this picture? Well…it’s just another day in Mr. Murphy’s life… 😉

There’s more to tell about this picture though.
Two years ago Robb released ‘Headstrong’. For this song a video was created, involving a bunch of animals who escaped from the zoo.
In the run-up to the release we shared photos of the making of the video, created a story around the animals and also shared photos of animals taking over Robb’s house. Next to that a few promotional videos were made. When the picture above was taken, Robb was filming this video…animal on the loose…

…and then his phone rang… 😆
The person Robb was speaking to probably never knew what was happening.

For the next video Robb dressed up as a zookeeper… trying to catch those pesky animals:

Thinking back about the ‘Headstrong’-release makes me giggle. The making of the video and the run-up to the release brought so much fun and laughter!

Preparing the release and the making of the video took up a lot of time. Many people were involved with the video, including friends, family, band members and even The Ulster Quartet!
Along the process more ideas came up and there was this last minute idea to make a release video. Band members got involved once more to help with the making of that video. The animals took over Robb’s house…waiting for Mr Postman to deliver a ‘Headstrong’-vinyl.

The release of ‘Headstrong’ was a success; the song received a lot of critical acclaim. ‘Headstrong’ is one of Robb’s most streamed songs on Spotify and yesterday the video passed the 20000 views on YouTube.

Listen on Spotify through the following link. Please give Robb a follow while you’re there, so you’ll stay updated on future releases!

If you’re a vinyl lover…there are still some 7” vinyl singles left! You can get a copy through the following link:

I’m definitely in energy saving mode today.
I woke up later than usual… It was already light outside…and cold so I decided to stay in bed a while longer, nice and warm. Waking up slowly, a nice and quiet moment before actually getting up. Suddenly the big pile of laundry I had been ignoring all week popped into my head…gone was that nice moment of relaxation…brutally interrupted by the image of laundry in my head… For a moment I was wondering if I could just ignore it another day, but that wouldn’t be an option… The children were already asking for their favourite clothes that had been sitting in the laundry basket for days… Unfortunately laundry doesn’t magically do itself… so after a big sigh I decided that it was time to get into action and get the laundry done today. Coffee first though! Coffee and breakfast! A little procaffeination won’t harm… Yes, I master the art of doing nothing until I’ve had my cup of coffee!

Laundry is done now…well partly…I only did what was necessary and decided to do the rest of the laundry in the following days…if I have (want to make) time for it…
I’ve put on some music and just made a big pot of tea. Next to coffee I’m a big tea lover. There’s a shop in my home town that sells loose tea and I love to try new flavours. Yesterday I went to buy some of my favourite tea and also bought a new flavour to try. Loose tea always tastes so good!

I’m sipping my tea while writing this blog and looking back on the past week. It’s been a busy week behind the scenes. Two bits of news you may have missed or may not have noticed yet.

Robb is featured artist on Coffee House Radio this month. Coffee House Radio features music from singers and songwriters. Online, they provide a 24/7 stream of music and featured artists. Next to that Coffee House Radio broadcasts an hour long radio program with music from some of today’s finest new and known singers and songwriters. The show is on WHFC, WMNB, and WCSQ. You can find Coffee House Radio on Twitter through the following link:https://twitter.com/CoffeeHouseRadi
Visit their website to listen: http://www.coffeehouseradio.com/

Over to the other bit of news. We received a great review of ‘North Star’ from Angry Baby !“Glisteningly wintery, warm and fuzzy, the song holds an entire landscape in the simplest of arrangements.”
Read the full review through the following link:http://www.angrybaby.co.uk/robb-murphy-north-star/
While you’re there, check out their website! You will find some great new music on there!

Time to end this blog with a song. No better song to use for this blog than ‘Coffee & Tea’!
Have a listen! And…while you’re there on Spotify, please give Robb a follow!